


Hazard

by Salmon_I



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Gen, Haunting, M/M, Murder Mystery, Paranormal, Sort Of, Watcher in the Woods Fusion AU, also sort of, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-22 21:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21083057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: A loud crack sounded, and even as she yanked her hand back, she knew what she would find.  A perfect triangle marred the mirror surface.  To her horror, though, the triangle did not show a reflection of an empty room.  Rosa, her eyes covered with a blind fold, her fingers pressed against the glass as if it were a window, appeared instead - the area around her misty and unclear.  Her mouth was moving, as if trying to say something, but no words reached Liz's ears.Both images disappeared as the mirror shattered, the sound of it breaking loud in the silence of the room.  It then toppled forward, and Liz could only scamper back out of its way as it hit the floor with a loud bang - the glass scattering below.





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you sure that price wasn’t weekly?” Kyle couldn’t help but ask Liz as she pulled her car up behind the truck of their temporary landlord. When Liz had mentioned the rental cottage, he’d expected something much smaller.

“Positive.” Liz told him. “I have it in writing.”

Before he could say more, Liz was already out of the car, striding toward where Maria was waiting for them. Maria hesitated only a moment before shaking Liz’s hand. “I’m sorry. The resemblance is just striking.” She admitted.

Liz paused, eyes wide. “You remember my sister?”

“A little.” Maria admitted. “I was only seven at the time. Rosa was very kind to me.”

Liz nodded, as if in understanding, but Kyle didn’t doubt she would try to get more info out of the other woman later. While a post-graduation summer trip sounded great in theory, he knew that Liz wanting to stay in this specific town - this specific cottage - didn’t have anything to do with a simple summer getaway before college.

“So, what’s the catch?” He spoke up, trying to get them back on track.

“Catch, Mr Valenti?” Maria turned to him, confused.

“Yeah, how did a bargain like this not get rented for the summer months ago?”

“Oh.” Maria glanced at the house. “The truth is my mother’s been… reluctant to rent it out. She’s sentimental about the place, since we lived here for years. But now that I’ve graduated, I’ll be taking over the rentals and… I just can’t see sitting on it.”

“So, when Rosa stayed here, she didn’t rent the whole cottage.” Liz spoke up.

Maria shook her head. “No, just one of the extra bedrooms. We were still living in the main house then.”

“Seems pretty isolated.” Kyle spoke up. The place was surrounded by a large woods on pretty much all sides - there had been a few more cottages on the drive there, but this was the farthest - the closest other structure had been a single, smaller cottage down the road.

“Not isolated, more… secluded.” Maria corrected.

“We’ve already agreed to rent it, you don’t have to sell it to us.”

“Kyle.” Liz shot him a glare.

“I’m just saying.”

“I’ll just pop down the road and grab the keys. If you want to take a look around the outside first.” Maria offered.

“Is someone living in that cottage?” Liz asked her.

“My mother and I. We moved in years ago. She… just felt that we didn’t need so much space.”

There was clearly something she wasn't saying. A part of Kyle wanted to make a joke about a ghost, but it wasn’t funny under the circumstances.

* * *

“You know I don’t like this idea.” Mimi watched as her daughter approached their porch.

“We can’t afford to just have it sit there empty.” Maria replied, walking past her to go inside and fetch the keys.

“We don’t know how she’ll react to anyone being there.”

Maria gave her a pained look. “There’s nobody there to react, Mother. The house is empty.”

“It’s not the house I’m worried about.”

“Well, if it’s safe to rent the house to anyone, it’s Rosa Ortecho’s sister.” Maria replied, though she was clearly upset by the conversation.

“I want to meet her.”

“...You can come if you like, but please be careful what you mention to her."

Mimi didn’t respond to that, only followed her back down the road to the larger cottage. When she spotted Liz Ortecho, she found herself frozen for a moment. It was like being thrown back in time to when another teenage girl had shown up on the same lawn, asking if she had a room to rent.

“Liz and Kyle are around my age.” Maria was telling her. “Both are going to be studying medicine. Kyle is going to be a surgeon, while Liz’s major will be biomedical engineering. They’re planning on spending the summer months here before the term starts in the fall.”

Mimi nodded at the information, but her eyes wandered toward the woods where a wind was blowing the branches of the trees lightly. She followed them inside reluctantly - she knew Maria had spent the past month cleaning the cottage. The moment Liz had contacted her, first about just renting the same room her sister had - unaware of the changes the last ten years had wrought on everything - she'd become adamant about renting it out. Mimi couldn't help but wonder how much of that determination was Maria's, and how much was Rosa's.

Liz and Kyle split up to explore, and she followed Liz as she went unerringly into the bedroom her sister had once stayed in. She hadn’t even been told which room had been Rosa’s, but she hadn't even glanced at any of the other four bedrooms the house held. Then she heard the crack of glass and a small, “Ouch.” When she entered the room Liz was standing by the window that looked out on the woods, holding her hand.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Just a small cut.” Liz reassured her, glancing at the window. A crack that formed a triangle now marred the glass. “I thought I saw something in the woods for a moment.”

The words pained Mimi, and she studied this young woman who looked so much like another she’d known, but she could sense was very different. “What sort of person are you?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.” Liz admitted.

“Are you adventurous? Are you kind?”

Liz stared at her, eyes filling with confusion. “I… try to be.”

“Are you sensitive? Do you sense things?”

“Mother.” Maria suddenly interrupted, stepping into the room. “I just came to find Ms Ortecho to finish the contract. If you want to head home, I'll be there soon.”

Mimi glanced at Liz, then the triangle on the window. She was afraid, couldn’t help but be afraid, to let Liz stay here. Yet every sense she had was also saying this was right. This was needed. “I'm going to take a chance that this is the right thing to do.” She spoke to both Maria and Liz. Maria gave a small, unhappy shake of her head - but Liz’s look was different. She looked determined. Kyle was eyeing her warily from the hallway, but she paid him no mind as she exited the cottage.

The woods were silent as she walked toward the road, and she paused to glance at them. “She’s going to stay here. Is that what you wanted?”

A strong breeze suddenly stirred the branches and leaves, and she couldn’t help but feel that was answer enough.

* * *

Mimi DeLuca's questions plagued Liz as she unpacked her things into the room she'd chosen stay in. Adventurous. Kind. Sensitive. In many ways, the words reminded her more of Rosa than herself. Yet here she was, in a house in the middle of the woods where her sister had once stayed. Hoping for… what? Answers? Closure?

The triangle on the window caught her attention again. Maria had promised to send someone to replace the window - apologizing for Liz getting hurt even if it was a small cut. It wasn't that the window had cracked that preyed on her mind, though. It was how and when.

She had thought she'd seen a light in the woods, and had placed her hand on the window as she tried to see what it was. But it wasn't as if she had leaned heavily on the glass. The light had flashed one more time, and then the glass had cracked with a loud snap. Not as a long ragged line, or a spider web of cracks outward either. Instead, in a distinct shape formed by a single line.

On the top of the dresser she was folding her clothes into was an antique mirror - tendrils of pewter shaded silver curling about it in an ornate design. Liz had noted it in passing, but hadn't really looked at it closely since. As she closed the drawer to the dresser and looked up, though, she found herself looking at a reflection of the room around her. However, she was missing from the reflection.

For a long moment all she could do was stare, trying to understand what she was seeing. The mirror continued to show the room as if she wasn't standing in it - a perfect reflection with the exact same furniture, the exact same reddish tones of sunset coming in through the window. She raised a hand slowly, stealing her nerves as her hand didn't appear in the surface either, and reached out toward the mirror. Her fingers brushed against the glass - it was solid under her fingers but it still showed no sign of her at all.

A loud crack sounded, and even as she yanked her hand back, she knew what she would find. A perfect triangle marred the mirror surface. To her horror, though, the triangle did not show a reflection of an empty room. Rosa, her eyes covered with a blind fold, her fingers pressed against the glass as if it were a window, appeared instead - the area around her misty and unclear. Her mouth was moving, as if trying to say something, but no words reached Liz's ears.

Both images disappeared as the mirror shattered, the sound of it breaking loud in the silence of the room. It then toppled forward, and Liz could only scamper back out of its way as it hit the floor with a loud bang - the glass scattering below.

"Liz!" She heard Kyle shout from his room across the hall. She wanted to respond, but she found herself frozen as she stared at the remnants of the mirror, mind still unable to process what she had just seen. "Liz! You okay? Whoa!" Kyle pulled up short upon seeing the broken mirror. "Well, there goes our deposit." He offered with a grin, before looking up at her. Whatever he saw couldn't have been good, because he ignored the mirror to hurry to her side. The glass breaking further under his shoes. "Liz? Did it hit you?"

"No." She finally got out. "I wasn't even touching it then."

"Maybe it was just balanced wrong. As long as you're okay, it's fine."

"I couldn't see myself."

"What?" Kyle frowned.

"I couldn't see myself in the mirror. And then I saw… I thought I saw… Rosa in it."

Kyle took her arm slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted. Liz could feel herself beginning to shake, though, and let him lead her over to a set of chairs in the corner of the room. "Maybe this was a bad idea, Liz. We can stay somewhere else-"

"No." Liz told him firmly. "I want to do this. I have to do this."

Kyle studied her for a moment. "Tell me the truth. Is this about closure? Or are you planning on trying to find out what happened?"

Liz hesitated. "Kyle-"

"The truth, Liz."

"I don't know. A part of me wants answers, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Kyle admitted. "But what do you expect to learn that nobody else has?"

"I know it doesn’t make sense. I know it’s arrogant, even, to assume I could figure out what happened.” Liz glanced at the mirror, a chill feeling up her spine as she remembered the image within it. “Something just doesn’t add up. Someone knows something.”

“I know.” Kyle sighed. He sat down in the other chair, obviously thinking.

Ten years ago, right around the time her older sister graduated from high school, it had come to light that Rosa had been born from an affair between her mother and Kyle’s father. In the wake of the small town scandal, Rosa had taken off on a post-graduation summer trip. But something had gone wrong, and while renting a room at the cottage she and Kyle were now renting, Rosa had disappeared. The police had claimed that there were no signs of foul play, and eventually she had been listed as missing. The case was still open, but remained unsolved.

Kyle had already been one of her best friends, but losing Rosa had only cemented that bond. If anyone could understand her need to find out what had happened to Rosa - it was Kyle. She’d been his sister, too.

“If you don’t want to-”

“I am here.” Kyle cut off her, and there were so much more meaning to that statement than could be put into words. “But even if someone knows something, that doesn’t mean they’ll tell us anything, Liz.”

“I know, but I have to try.”

* * *

Maria showed up the next morning, with a tall teenage boy about their age - a new window and some equipment loaded in the back of her truck. “I wasn’t sure how late you might sleep in.” She greeted when they came out to meet them.

“We were already up.” Liz reassured her. Neither of them had slept well the previous evening.

“This is Max Evans.” Maria introduced. “Max, this is Liz Ortecho and Kyle Valenti. They’re renting out the cottage for the summer.”

Kyle noted that Max glanced quickly at Maria when she said Liz’s last name, but the small tic was quickly covered by a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you both.”

“You too.” Liz shook his hand, and Kyle followed suit.

“You live around here?” Kyle asked him.

“All my life. We live on the side of the woods opposite town.” Max tilted his head back up the road. “Which probably makes us your closest neighbors next to Maria and Mimi, since you’re so deep into the woods here.”

“You live with your parents?” Liz asked.

“No, with my elder sister.” Max admitted. “Our parents passed away several years ago.”

“Oh…. I’m sorry, I just assumed when you said we…”

Max shook his head at her apology. “It’s okay, it’s the obvious conclusion. Anyhow, I’m working for Maria for the summer.”

“He’s my go to repair guy.” Maria stepped in. “I thought if we caught you early enough we could get in to repair the window and it won’t interfere with your plans for the day.”

“We didn’t really have plans yet.” Liz admitted.

“You guys don’t really have a brochure for local events.” Kyle pointed out.

“Don’t let my sister hear you say that.” Max joked as he began to unload the supplies he needed. “She helps run most of the local events. We even have a town website.”

“With such thrilling listings as the weekly farmer’s market, and Friday night karaoke.” Maria teased.

“Wow. I can hardly contain my excitement.” Kyle commented.

“There is the eclipse in a few days.” Max pointed out. “There will be a town gathering, with special viewing glasses available for anyone who donates to the food and clothing drive. You should come.”

“I’ll check my calendar.” Liz teased, a small smile playing across her lips as she looked at him.

Kyle resisted the urge to groan - watching Liz flirt with their repairman was not in his plans for the day. Or the summer, for that matter. Luckily, replacing the window took up most of Max Evan’s attention. Liz said she wanted to check out the woods, and asked him to fetch her when the window was done so they could head into town to check the place out. Maria offered that she could lock up the cottage so they could go to the town, but Liz glanced at the woods and insisted it was fine.

That left him with Maria for company, and at first it was mainly ordinary small talk like they’d indulged in on the way to the cottage the day before. But the conversation took a turn when he brought up the mirror. “The frame seems okay, but the glass is completely destroyed. Liz said it just fell over.”

“That’s so strange.” Maria frowned. “That mirror has been in the house for years and years. It was here when Rosa rented that room.”

Kyle paused. “I’m sorry, did you say Rosa rented that room? Specifically?”

“Yeah, the one Liz chose to stay in is the room Rosa rented from us. I thought maybe she had sent a letter or something, and Liz knew when she chose it.”

“No, Rosa didn’t… write much. She sent a postcard or two that summer. And then those stopped and…” He hadn’t known Rosa was his sister until just before her disappearance, but he’d been friends with Liz all their lives. Looking back, he’d felt like a brother to the older girl long before he’d known he was one.

“Were you close to her, too?”

“Rosa was my half-sister.”  
  
Maria’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Well, you didn’t know her long, you said.”

“A little over a month. I adored her. She used to let me follow her around. She showed me her art. Y’know, my mom was busy with the renters from the cottages a lot, and during the summer that meant I didn’t get to see my friends in town as much as during the school year. We’re pretty far out here.”

“Isolated.” Kyle couldn’t help but tease her again.

“Secluded.” Maria shot back with a grin. “Anyhow, if the renters had kids I would sometimes play with them. We didn’t have any cottages left when Rosa showed up. There was just something about her that got to my Mom, though, because she never rented rooms in our own house until that summer. And then…” Her smile disappeared as she thought back to that night.

“What do you remember? About the night Rosa disappeared?”

“Not much. Rosa took me over so I could play with Max that afternoon, so I was pretty tired. Fell asleep almost right after dinner. It was the sirens that woke me up. The firetrucks and the police cars coming up the road to the old chapel. Mom told me they were looking for Rosa, and the police came to ask questions and look through her things. For awhile we couldn’t even get into our own house - it was a possible crime scene. The Evans let us stay with them. But eventually, they just couldn’t find evidence of… anything.”

“Rosa’s things - they were still here? She didn’t pack a bag?” Kyle asked her.

“I mean, we didn’t know everything she owned, but she hadn’t arrived with much to begin with. It seemed like it was all there.”

Rosa had only taken a small bag when she left Roswell. Kyle couldn’t imagine that she’d left what few things she’d taken behind if she had simply left again. But nothing about Rosa’s disappearance made sense it seemed. “Did the police question the other renters?”

Maria nodded. “They did. Almost all of them had alibis, apparently. I mean, I question it - looking back. If it was… if she...”

“If she was murdered.” Kyle supplied for her when she stumbled over the words.

“If she was murdered - those cabins were the closest people around. Full of strangers, most of which we never saw again. How do you know?”

“I’m sorry to bring this all up.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. And that Rosa’s case… you both deserve to know what happened. I can’t even imagine what it’s like not knowing.”

“Not easy.”

“The window is done.” Max appeared in the doorway. “And I’ve got the truck reloaded.”

“Great, I just want to check in with Mom before I drive you back.” Maria stood up.

“Is there lunch involved by any chance?”

“Fine, I’ll feed you.” Maria told him, before turning back. “I’ll try to find a replacement for the mirror, if you’d like.”

“I’ll ask Liz. I’m supposed to go fetch her anyway.” Kyle replied, following them out the door.

* * *

The first thing Liz tried to do was debunk whatever light she’d seen the previous day. Maybe there was something left behind out here - an old bird feeder or scrap metal the sun had caught just right. There was nothing to be found, though. The woods were beautiful and peaceful, and after a short while of wandering them she wondered what she was looking for. Even if some evidence, some clue, had once been here, ten years had passed.

She’d just found a clearing with a large pond, when a hand grabbed her arm. She swung her free hand around to hit whoever had her, and Kyle caught her wrist. “Whoa! It’s me!”

Liz cursed under her breath, even as she relaxed. “What were you thinking scaring me like that?”

“Liz, I have been calling myself hoarse for you. Didn’t you hear me at all?”

She frowned at the news. The woods had been quiet and peaceful - she should have heard Kyle calling for her from a good distance. “I honestly didn’t hear you.”

Kyle frowned, but didn’t comment - glancing around the clearing. “This place is pretty cool.”

“It reminds me of a place Rosa would have liked.” Liz admitted. There was a log over part of the lake and she climbed onto it - glancing down into the water below.

“Well, they finished the window. So we can head into town if you like. Maybe grab some lunch - Maria recommended some local places.”

Liz was only half listening, as she gazed into the water of the pond a circle of light seemed to appear in it - glowing faintly. “Kyle… Kyle look at the water.”

“Are you humming something?” Kyle was looking the other way, apparently distracted by something she couldn’t hear.

“I think we should leave now.” She began to turn to head back to solid ground when a flash of light blinded her, and she lost her footing - falling into the water below.

“Liz!” She heard Kyle shout, muted by the water around her.

She tried to push back to the surface, but she found herself tangled in the limbs of the tree she’d been balancing on. Above her, standing on the log she’d fallen off of, Mimi appeared. She held a branch in her hand, and plunged it down onto her - pressing her deeper into the water. She cried out in surprise, trying to shove the branch away.

“What are you doing??!” Kyle appeared briefly, trying to get at Mimi, but she saw Max Evans grab him around the waist and yank him back away.

Mimi plunged the branch down again, and Liz felt the air leave her lungs from the pressure of it. She tried not to breath the water in, and her vision grew hazy from lack of oxygen. There was shouting occurring above her, but she could no longer make out the words or voices. Her body finally rebelled against her will, breathing in the water as the branch pressed down on her again, and the world went dark.

* * *

“She had to. She had to push you down to get you free from the branches.” Kyle explained.

Liz was still shaken from the ordeal. She was wrapped in a blanket, on the couch in the cottage the DeLuca’s lived in, still soaked to the bone from the pond water.

Kyle glanced at the door to the kitchen before speaking again. “I thought she was trying to drown you at first. If Evans hadn’t pulled me back, I could have knocked her in and then you both might have drowned.”

“Mr Valenti.” Mimi entered, carrying a tray with mugs of coffee. “Would you mind going to the cottage and fetching Ms Ortecho some dry clothes to change into?”

Kyle glanced at her for permission, and Liz nodded. “Of course.” He agreed.

As Kyle exited through the front door, Mimi handed her a bath towel. “Dry your hair. Hopefully we can prevent you from getting a chill.” She set one of the mugs down on the end table near her.

“Mrs Deluca, I can’t thank you enough for what you did.”

“I have no doubt you’d have done the same for me.” Mimi reassured her, sitting down with a mug of her own. “You seem the type who tries to help others.”

The words seemed to be weighted, and Liz glanced around the room, thinking. ”Where are Maria and Max?”

“Maria is driving Max back to his sister’s place. She’ll be back shortly. You and Kyle are welcome to stay for dinner, if you like. You probably haven’t had time to go to town yet.”

“Mrs Deluca-”

“Mimi is fine.”

“Then call me Liz.”

“Liz it is.” Mimi offered her a smile.

Liz returned it, but couldn’t help but grow serious. “Mimi, were you... how much do you know about what happened with Rosa?”

“What did you want to know?”

“The night she disappeared… was she blindfolded?”

Mimi’s eyes widened, and she sat up straighter. “Your father told you? About the blindfold?”

Despite the sinking feeling in her stomach, Liz pushed on. “My father kept most of the details from me. He considered me too young to be caught up in it all. I was going to request a copy of the investigation from the police when I went into town, but… we haven’t been there yet.”

Mimi’s eyes studied her. “You’ve seen things.”

“I don’t know what I saw. I can’t explain it, and that bothers me. Mysterious lights, and images in mirrors don’t make sense to me. I feel like there’s no science to this. I’m out of my element.”

“I have always had more faith in the spiritual over the science. I’m not sure I can help.”

“Can you tell me what happened? Why was she blindfolded?"

"They said they were playing a game. They met in the old chapel in the woods that night."

"Who?"

"Alex, Michael, Isobel, and Rosa. They had become friends during the weeks she stayed with us. I didn't realize she'd gone out at first. Not until after I put Maria to bed and went to see her, only to find out she wasn't in her room. Then I remembered that there was an eclipse. I thought she might have gone to watch it at the pond.”

“The one I…?” Liz began but trailed off, remembering the glowing circle she’d seen in it’s waters.

Mimi nodded. “The same. I went to check, but she wasn’t there either. I saw this flash of light, and heard the bell ring out from the old chapel. By the time I made it there - the whole place was in flames.”

“But they never found a body.” Liz pointed out. “They never found any sign of her in the ruins.”

“No, they didn’t.” Mimi sat down her mug and went to the window - gazing at the woods outside. “Sometimes there seems to be someone out there. Sometimes it seems you can hear a voice whispering on the wind.”

Liz stood, going to join her at the window. “What do you think happened to my sister?”

“...I think she’s still out there.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I really wish Mother hadn’t said anything.” Maria admitted. Kyle had asked her to show them around the town, and they had stopped for lunch at a local diner she’d recommended. “I feel like she’s gotten more and more obsessed with the woods. Some days I don’t know what to think or do.”

“I did see something in the water at the pond, though. That’s why I fell in.” Liz protested.

“Surely there’s a more logical explanation.” Kyle told her.

“You’re saying doubt me?” Liz accused.

“I’m saying, let’s look for reasonable explanations before we start hunting ghosts.”

“Even if it was a ghost - why would Rosa ever want to harm you?” Maria pointed out.

“I don’t know, but I do know something is happening and logic isn’t helping me solve it.” Tossing down money for her meal, Liz climbed out of the booth.

“Liz-” Kyle began.

“I’m going to the chapel. I want to see it for myself.”

“We’ll come with you.” Maria suggested.

“I’ll be fine on my own.”

Half an hour later she was regretting her decision to leave Kyle and Maria behind. The ruined chapel was an impressive structure, but something about it was foreboding. As she entered inside, broken glass and decaying leaves that had been blown inside were trampled under her feet. Near the front an empty coffin sat at the front of the rows of abandoned pews. Though everything seemed old and covered in dust and debris, a fresh bouquet of flowers sat on the coffin. The discrepancy caught Liz off guard and her eyes lingered on it. While she stared, the light from outside shone on the side of the coffin in a perfect triangle.

As if drawn to the symbol that kept hinting at things, Liz approached the coffin slowly. Inside a ghostly image of Rosa lay - her eyes once again covered with a blindfold. Fighting against her own fear, she closed her eyes - counting to ten - and reopened them. The image was gone.

As she turned to go, a shadowed figure farther forward caught her eye. A man stood in the shadows, a cowboy hat concealing his face for a moment. Slowly he raised his head, eyes searching as he gazed at her - but not speaking a single word. When he took a step toward her, Liz turned and ran from the chapel.

She’d made it into the courtyard when she ran into someone, yanking back - only to be met with Max’s concerned eyes. “Liz, you okay?”

Liz glanced back, noting the man had exited the chapel, and Max followed her gaze. He took one more look at the two of them, before disappearing into the surrounding woods. “Who was that?”

“That was just Michael. What happened?”

“Michael?” Liz pulled back. “Michael who?”

“Michael Guerin - he’s an old friend of my sister.” Max confessed. “He’s pretty much a hermit. Lives on his own at the edge of the woods; rarely goes to town. Did he try to hurt you?”

“No, I just… He startled me, but he didn’t say anything.” Liz admitted. “How did you find me?”

“Maria called me. She asked if I’d check up on you. She said you’d be here, but she didn’t say why.”

Liz could feel herself calming down - the wheels in her head turning. “I’ve been trying to make sense of what happened to my sister. But things keep happening that… Max, do you believe in ghosts?”

“I believe anything is possible.”

“If Rosa was murdered, that would explain her haunting the woods. Right?”

“That’s what all the ghost stories I’ve ever read suggest.” Max admitted.

“Mimi DeLuca said there were three friends of Rosa with her the night she disappeared. One’s name was Michael.”

“That would be Michael Guerin.” Max told her. “She was teaching him how to play guitar when she was here.”

“One was Alex.”

“There’s Alex Manes. He’s some sort of computer genius - lives alone in the large house right outside of town. Not much of a people person either, to be honest.”

“And there was a girl. Isobel.”

Max stared at her in shock. “Isobel?”

“Yeah.” Liz nodded.

“That’s my sister’s name.”

* * *

  
“What do you think? Is there a ghost?” Kyle asked Maria as they pulled up to her cottage. He’d assured her it was a short enough walk that she didn’t have to take him all the way to the one he and Liz were renting.

Maria sighed as she climbed out of her truck. “I mean, I was brought up to believe in ghosts. But if it is Rosa out there - then why would she want to scare her sister? Or my mother and me? Rosa wasn’t cruel like that.”

“Maybe it’s not Rosa.” Kyle suggested.

“But then why hasn’t there always been stories of the woods being haunted? Why only after Rosa’s death?”

“So something isn’t adding up right.”

“Want to come in for coffee?” Maria asked him.

“I’d love some.”

When they went inside, there was the sound of a music box playing. Kyle paused at the familiar notes of the tune. It was the same song he’d heard someone humming when Liz had fallen into the pond. The music box was an antique wooden one that was open on the coffee table, playing it’s tune. Mimi sat on the couch - staring at where, inside, a small figure turned to the song - surrounded by mirrors so you could watch it dance.

“Mother?” Maria approached. “Mom?”

“Rosa. Must help Rosa.” Mimi spoke, but she didn’t look at them - her eyes were empty even as she continued to stare at the music box.

Maria seemed frozen in place, no longer moving forward toward her. Kyle noticed she was beginning to shake. Kyle stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder - noting her eyes were wide and scared. “Mother, please…”

“Soon. Help Rosa very soon.” Mimi continued, her voice sounding different the longer she spoke. Less trance-like, but deeper. Not like Mimi’s voice at all.

“How do we help Rosa?” Kyle asked.

“Door. Must open door.” Was the reply.

“What door?”

“Chapel. Soon. Help Rosa very soon.”

“...are you Rosa?”

“No, not Rosa. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!”

“If you aren’t Rosa, who are you??” Maria got out, though there were tears in her eyes.

The door suddenly opened, breaking the moment as Max and Liz entered. Mimi began to fall over, and Kyle jumped forward to catch her as she fell. Maria reached over and shut the music box, and for a moment Kyle thought she might pick it up and throw it away, but instead she sat down - her face crumbling and tears welling in her eyes.

“Maria?” Max ran over to kneel by her, taking her hand.

“What’s going on?” Liz asked.

Mimi’s breathing and heartbeat seemed steady, so Kyle rested her on the couch gently, before going to stand by Maria. “This isn’t the first time that’s happened, is it?” He asked her, trying to stay firm despite her being distraught. There was some piece of information he was missing - something she was holding back on.

“Who do you think you are?” Max stood up, glaring at him.

“Stay out of it.” Kyle told him.

“You don’t just get to come in here and-” Max began, but Maria grabbed his hand and shook her head. “Maria?”

“What happened?” Liz demanded again.

“Mrs DeLuca was in some sort of trance.” Kyle told her. “It was like in one of those haunted house movies with mediums or something.”

“Is that true?” Max glanced at Maria.

“When I was younger, after Rosa’s disappearance. When we still lived in the cottage - this would happen sometime. She’d fade away and it was like some stranger was…” Maria answered, turning her eyes to where Mimi was now resting peacefully. “It stopped when we moved in here.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Kyle asked her.

“Would you have believed me?” She challenged. “Besides, I had convinced myself it was just the stress of Rosa’s disappearance that caused it. That I had been a child and had just misunderstood things. I wanted to believe it so much. I thought if I rented the house to Rosa’s sister it would just… bring closure to it all. Maybe we could finally move on.”

“Maybe we can still.” Liz told her. “If we figure out what happened.”

“One thing’s for certain.” Kyle told her. “It’s not Rosa out there. It’s someone else.”

* * *

Alex both was and wasn’t used to having Michael at his house. He was used to him dropping in unannounced. At the same time, he also knew that no matter how many times he came he wouldn’t stay.

“I saw Rosa today.” Michael confessed.

Alex frowned at his words - studying him more closely. “You’re drunk.” He decided, before moving forward to sit down in one of the chairs.

“Not then I wasn’t.” Michael assured him, moving closer. “She was in the chapel. She came in and gazed into the coffin. She didn’t even look a day older.”

“A nightmare then.”

“I was awake, Alex.” He insisted, moving to stand by the fireplace. A fire was burning away in it - which he must have lit while waiting for him. “There’s a storm tonight. Just like the night…” He trailed off, giving a harsh laugh. “But we don’t talk about that night, do we?”

Alex felt his eyes slide close for a moment in pain. Then he stood, and moved forward, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder. “You go back there every year. Maybe you just-”

“I leave flowers for her. There’s no grave to leave flowers on, is there?” Michael turned to him, and he could only drop his hand back to his side. “But the chapel was always empty before.”

“It’s been ten years, Guerin. None of us could look the same.”

“What did I see, then? A ghost? Some vengeful spirit come back to haunt us for what we did?”

“We’re already haunted. We don’t need to dream up spirits for it.”

Michael’s eyes met his briefly, pained and tired. “You’re right.” He started to head for the door.

“It’s pouring out there - you could stay?”

Michael paused for a moment, partway to the door. “Leave the past in the past, right?” He finally replied.

Alex turned to gaze at the fireplace, not able to word a reply. He heard the door shut behind Michael, but he kept his eyes on the flames.

* * *

  
“It was a long time ago.” Isobel told Max. When he had parted ways with the other three, he’d promised to ask Isobel what she knew about Rosa. He didn’t really get a chance until the next morning - sun now coming through the windows to replace the storm from the night before. “I am sorry for her family, but some things are best left in the past.”

Max frowned at her insistence. “You used to like those woods, but now you won’t go near them. Not even to take the shortcut to town.”

“And cross that old bridge near the south? They should have replaced it years ago, it’s just a hazard.” Isobel shrugged off his words. “Besides, the route around the woods isn’t that much longer.”

“What do you think happened to Rosa?”

Isobel gave him a look, but finally sighed and joined him at the table. “I think she ran away. I wish I knew the reason, but I don’t. Still, it’s the only logical explanation there is.”

“What were you four doing at the chapel?”

“We were just… playing around.” Isobel told him, almost defensive. She frowned, her eyes growing distant as she thought back. “It was this silly notion Alex and I made up… it was just a game…” Her words grew softer, taking on an almost frightened quality. “Then there was a sudden summer storm. Lightning struck the bell tower and the whole place just burst into flames. We ran out. Or, at least, three of us did.”

“Did she…”

“The fire department was called. They put out the flames. There should have been some sign if…” Isobel clasped her hands together tightly, but Max could see they were shaking.

Reaching over, he placed his hand over hers, and Isobel gave him a pained smile. “Were you close?”

“Closer than I’ve ever been with anyone since. I’ve never gone back. I don’t think I ever could.”

Max gave her hands a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Iz.”

Isobel turned her hand over to grasp his. “You can’t change the past, Max. You just have to keep moving forward.”

* * *

“Are you sure this is the place?” Kyle glanced at the house that loomed over them. It was old, and honestly he thought it looked more like a haunted house than the cottage did.

“This is where Alex Manes lives.” Maria told him, though she was eyeing the building the same way he did.

“Right.” He continued to stare.

“Are you going to ring the bell?”

“How do we know he’s home?”

“We don’t until we ring the bell.”

“Right.”

They glanced at each other, and inched forward to the porch to press on the buzzer. The door opened a moment later, and Kyle resisted the urge to step back. Alex Manes cut an imposing figure as he stared at the two teenagers on his doorstep. “Maria DeLuca.”

“Mr Manes.” Maria nodded.

“And you are?” He turned his gaze to him.

“Kyle Valenti. I’m Rosa Ortecho’s half-brother. Her sister Liz Ortecho and I are renting a cottage from the DeLucas.”

“… I see.” Somehow the words seemed to connect something to him. “What do you want?”

“It’s about Rosa.”

“What about Rosa?”

“We think she needs help.” Maria put in.

“And how would you know that?” Alex asked her.

“Liz has seen her.” Kyle told him.

That got his attention, his eyes widened. “Seen her? Where?”

“In mirrors.”

Alex seemed to relax at his words. “I’m sorry, but whatever issues Rosa’s sister has, I’m sure a counselor is more appropriate-”

“It wasn’t some freak out. It was real.” Kyle told him.

“Why was she blindfolded in the chapel?” Maria asked.

Alex’s head snapped to her. “What did you say?”

“Liz said the image she saw of Rosa, she was blindfolded.” Maria told him.

“We need to know what happened that night.” Kyle added.

“I don’t have time for your teenage pranks. It’s disrespectful to your half-sister’s memory to play tricks based on whatever you’ve learned.” Alex started to step back so as to shut the door.

“This isn’t a prank. You have to believe us.” Maria stepped forward, pressing her hand against the door so he wouldn’t close it.

“Enough.” His gaze was cold now, and his words were hard. “What happened to Rosa affected all of us. Changed all of us. It was a terrible tragedy, but it’s best forgotten.”

“Have you ever forgotten it?” Kyle asked him.

The words seemed to shake him, but then he grew cold again. “Get off my property.”

“Mr Manes-” Maria began.

“I said leave.” There was no give to the word or the expression on his face.

Kyle pulled Maria back, and Alex slammed the door shut. She gave him a defeated look as they headed back toward her truck. “Maybe Max or Liz will have more luck.” He suggested.

“Maybe.”

* * *

“Did she say what sort of game they were playing?” Liz was on her cellphone, talking to Max, even as she pulled up to the outskirts of the woods. The path to the spot had been little more than a dirt road and at times she thought she’d gone the wrong way. Now, though, she could see through breaks in the branches where there was some sort of building set back from the edge of the woods..

“No. She didn’t really want to talk about it at all.” Max told her. “I remembered Rosa bringing Maria over to play during that summer sometimes, but I thought she was babysitting her for Mimi. I didn’t know she and Isobel were that close.”

“Maybe Kyle and Maria learned something from Alex Manes. I’m at Michael Guerin’s place now.”

“Do you want to wait for me?”

“No, just meet us back at the cottage like we planned.” She assured him. “See you there.”

There was no way to drive down to the building. It was a footpath, and even that didn’t seem well used. She began to doubt if she had the right place again as she approached. It was little more than a shack - and it definitely seemed like it had seen better days. “Hello?” She called out, but was only greeted by silence. “Is anyone home?”

Frowning, she moved further around the structure - a set of storm doors that seemed in better repair than the shack were closed. “Hello?” She called again, but received no reply. Once she circled to the front again, she glanced around one last time, before steeling herself to go inside. It was little more than a one room structure, and nobody was inside. After a glance, she was going to leave - but something caught her eye. A guitar in the corner by the bed. She moved slowly, certain her mind was playing tricks on her, but when she was standing right next to it she knew she wasn’t wrong. It was Rosa’s guitar.

A footstep drew her attention, and she froze when she saw Michael Guerin standing in the only entrance to the shack. He didn’t speak, only moved forward toward her, and Liz realized she was backed into the corner. She tried to skirt to the side, but he sidestepped with her - eyes focused.

Steeling herself, Liz met his gaze. “Why do you have my sister’s guitar?”

The words seemed to bring him up short. He stared at her for a moment longer. “Sister.” He finally spoke, and gave a shake of his head. “Sister - that makes more sense, doesn’t it?”

Liz still eyes him warily, even as he backed away from her and dropped his cowboy hat onto a table against the wall. “More sense than what?”

“A ghost haunting us.” He offered. “You’re Liz Ortecho - Rosa’s younger sister.”

“You know my name?”

“Rosa mentioned you a couple times.”

“Why do you have her guitar?”

“...it was in my truck. The police didn’t realize was hers, I guess. They didn’t take it when they searched it.”

“You were a suspect.” Liz realized.

“We all were. We were the last to see her, after all. They focused on me the longest, but I guess you know that.” He sat down. “Go ahead, ask me if I did it. Everybody else has.”

Underneath the dismissal of the words was something different. Pain. “You put the flowers in the chapel. That’s why you were in there.”

“And if I did?”

“Thank-you.”

The words seemed to freeze him, and he took a deep breath before speaking. “I am sorry for what happened to your sister.”

Liz studied his expression, which seemed to hold a mixture of regret and defeat. “Why would Rosa haunt you?”

“I don’t think talking about this will help anyone.”

“Isobel Evans said you were playing a game.”

Michael frowned at her words. “Isobel told you that?”

“Why were you in the chapel? Why was she blindfolded? What was it the four of you were up to? You, and my sister, and Isobel Evans, and Alex Manes?”

“Alex… Alex is fond of saying to leave the past in the past.” Michael told her. “Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m too caught up in it all still. Hoping for answers that can’t be found.”

“What sort of answers?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.” Liz insisted.

Michael sighed, and stood up. "Follow me."

Liz knew she should be wary, but somehow the brief conversation felt like a connection. Michael went outside and around the back to the storm doors she'd noted earlier. He opened them to reveal a staircase leading downward. "You're seeking answers to Rosa's disappearance in a storm cellar?"

"What? You don't think it looks like where you would find the secrets to the Multiverse?"

"No?" Liz admitted, then noted his look. "That's the point."

Michael offered a smirk, before heading down the stairs. Liz followed him, pausing at the bottom steps to take in the room. It was part laboratory, part something more like an alchemist lab from a fantasy movie. Books were everywhere and various whiteboards held equations and drawings. She paused by one, even as Michael flipped one board over to reveal an empty side. He drew a circle and triangle side by side, and that instantly drew her attention.

"The crazy thing about all of this." He told her. "Was it was just a child's game."

Liz came over to look at the board as he wrote a date down under the circle, and then drew small circles at the corners of the triangle, before drawing a fourth in the center. "What game?"

"A secret society. An initiation ceremony. Alex and Isobel made it up when they were kids. It was just the two of them then. When I was fostered to a family here in our preteens, I did it too. Basically it was an attempt to freak ourselves out. The person being initiated was blindfolded, and taken to a place that was traditionally considered scary or spooky. Alex and Isobel went to the graveyard, Mine was in this old house at the edge of town that was abandoned at the time.”

“The house Alex Manes lives in now?” Liz asked him - Maria had told her about it when she and Kyle set out to talk to him that morning.

The words drew Michael up short, though, and he glanced away. “Yeah, he bought it when he moved back to town.”

When the silence stretched, Liz prompted him, “Rosa’s initiation was at the chapel?”

“It was supposed to be. We weren’t actually planning on doing it - we thought we were a bit old for it by then. But Rosa got excited about it - saying we’d never freak her out and she wanted to try it. We eventually caved, and planned it on the night of the eclipse. Nothing had ever really happened during any of our initiations. Not until that night. Maybe it was the eclipse, or the location, or that there were three of us - maybe all of it. I don’t know. I’ve spent years trying to unlock it. I even went back there during another lunar eclipse… but nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

“And that night?”

Michael sighed, running a hand through his hair and moving away to lean against a nearby table. “We blindfolded Rosa and led her in - standing her on the coffin while we stood around her. We joined hands.” He nodded at his drawing of the triangle, and Liz realized it represented the three of them standing around Rosa, holding hands. A triangle with her sister in the center.

“Alex led the ceremony that night… You have been brought here to prove yourself worthy of our secret society. You must not show fear. You must not speak. You must not remove the blindfold, and you must not move at all. We’ll join hands around you, and you must not break the circle - the circle of our friendship.” He was quoting, Liz realized. That set of words made him pause, but after a shake of his head he continued. “We are looking upon you, willing you to be as one with us. We ask the question - is this person worthy?”

His eyes were growing distant as he remembered that long ago night. “...that was when the light flashed above us - this bright blinding flash, accompanied by a sound like electricity. The bell tower burst into flames. The bell moved on its own - ringing out even as the supports holding it were eaten away by the fire.”

Liz stepped closer, caught by the story. “What happened then?”

“I remember Isobel screaming in surprise. We all ran, but then I realized Rosa might think it was a part of the game. I turned back to call to her, but… she wasn’t there anymore. She was gone. The bell came crashing down on the coffin, but Rosa was nowhere to be seen.”

“Are you sure she didn’t run?”

“Run where? Even if she jumped off the coffin, she should have been visible. I told the police what I had seen, but they didn’t believe me. There wasn’t another way out, so they assumed I was lying. That I had… there was no evidence, of course. And Alex and Isobel told them I was right behind them. Eventually she was listed simply as missing.”

“You don’t think she’s dead, do you?” Liz asked him.

“I think it’s some sort of displacement.” Michael told her. “Some sort of energy that was somehow manufactured by the perfect set of circumstances. I think she was sent somewhere.”

“And you think it’s still possible to bring her back, hence all of this.” She gestured to the underground lab.

“In theory, yes. But I’m missing something. Some final piece of the puzzle. And without that, I’m no closer to understanding what happened that night than I was when I watched that bell fall on nothing. And I’m no closer to bringing your sister home. I’m sorry.”

* * *

Another storm had blown in, and this time knocked the power out at the cottages. Maria had completed the rounds to the other renters to assure them that, according to the power company, it was supposed to be back on by morning. The new information they’d all uncovered about Rosa’s disappearance still wasn’t easing her worries. Even as she attempted a troubled sleep, her dreams just showed her flashes of memories. Rosa when she’d stayed with them, the triangle on the window Max had replaced, her mother - eyes blank - as she was possessed by something she didn’t understand. She awoke with a start, still in the middle of the night.

The electricity wasn’t back on yet, but she had the flashlight on her cellphone to guide her through the house - planning on getting a drink of water from the kitchen and heading back to bed. She was brought up short by a voice from the bathroom as she was about to pass it.

“Nearly too late.”

She could feel herself trembling, even as she turned to look. Mimi stood before the mirror, eyes blank, and a bar of soap in her hand. Words were written on the mirror, and it took her a moment to see what they read. The words were written backwards, as if to be read from the other side of the mirror.

“Hardly ever happens.” Mimi intoned, eyes still staring blankly forward.

“What hardly ever happens?” Maria forced herself forward - pushing the door further open to reach her. The sound of the door hitting the wall snapped Mimi out of the trance, and she turned surprised eyes on her. “Mom, you said it hardly ever happens, what does that mean?”

Mimi glanced between the bar of soap in her own hand, and the writing on the mirror. “I don't know, Maria.”

She glanced at the backwards words on the mirror, then brought her phone up to take a picture of them. “Do again tomorrow…” She read. “Do what?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t remember.” Mimi shook her head.

“It’s okay.” Maria assured her, pulling her into a hug. “It’s okay.”

She wasn’t sure which of them she was convincing of that.

* * *

Maria showed up before breakfast, but Kyle wasn’t sure he or Liz had gotten much sleep anyway. Ghosts, possessions, secret rituals. If he hadn’t seen some of it with his own eyes, he would have said it wasn’t real. It didn’t fit in with the logic of the world as he understood it even just a week past.

Maria set her phone down on the table, and as he gazed at the backwards written letters he felt even more off kilter. Maria clicked a couple buttons, and the image mirrored - making the words even clearer.

“Do again tomorrow.” He read.

“Mother was in another trance when she wrote it on the mirror last night. Tomorrow would be today.”

“Do what again?” Liz asked her.

“She said it was nearly too late. That it hardly ever happens.” Maria continued. “But then she snapped out of the trance, and she couldn’t remember anything.”

A knock on the door made them jump, but Liz was the first to snap back. “That’ll be Max. He said he’d bring us some breakfast from town. Apparently they didn’t lose power last night.”

She went to let him in, and Kyle could only stare at the picture on Maria’s phone some more. What was the one key they were missing?

“What are these?” Liz was holding a pair of boxy looking dark goggles as she and Max entered the kitchen and Max set take out bags on the table.

“Those are a set of the viewing glasses I mentioned the day I repaired the window.” Max told her. “The solar eclipse is at noon today. You should take some time to come see it from the town square. It’s pretty much cloudless skies right now, so it should be perfect weather to view it. And that hardly ever happens.”

Kyle’s eyes snapped to Liz, and she met his gaze with the same look of realization. “The eclipse.”

“Lunar eclipses are common, but solar eclipses take hundreds of years to be seen in the same spot.” Maria added in.

“Do again tomorrow.” Liz glanced around the room. “The ceremony. We need to repeat the ceremony.”

“We don’t know how to do the ceremony.” Kyle reminded her.

“But the original group does.” Liz turned to Max. “I need you to get your sister to the chapel.”

“How?” Max asked her.

“Tell her anything. Tell her it’s a matter of life or death, but get her there before noon. Kyle, Maria-”

“Alex Manes wouldn’t even talk to us.” Kyle reminded her, even as he stood up.

“Then get Michael Guerin. I’ll get Alex Manes.”

* * *

  
“Rosa Ortecho is dead.” Alex insisted firmly. Liz and he were facing off on the lawn of the old house Maria had given her the address to.

“You don’t know that.” Liz was scared to hope that her sister was alive, but at the same time she knew for a fact now that nobody had seen her die.

“I do know that.” Alex argued. “I knew her. She wouldn’t have let her family and friends suffer for years if she was still alive somewhere.”

“Part of the suffering is not knowing.” Liz reminded him. “Maybe we can find out what really happened. How she disappeared before the bell fell, or how she died. If she died. Don’t you want to know the truth?”

“You’ve been speaking to Michael.” Alex’s accused, hand clenching into a fist at his side. “Who do you think you are to just come in and disrupt lives and reopen old wounds?”

“They never really healed, did they?” She knew from the look on his face that she had hit home with those words. “Isn’t that why you lock yourself away in this house? A prisoner of your own guilt? Look, we don’t have much time. But you owe it to my sister, heck you owe it to yourself to try and make this happen.”

* * *

Alex still couldn’t believe he was sitting in the ruined chapel with Rosa Ortecho’s sister, contemplating repeating the events of one of the worst nights of his life. Everything had changed after that night. None of them had ever been able to get over Rosa’s disappearance. Liz and he had been first to arrive, and for a moment he was convinced the others wouldn’t come. He couldn’t remember the last time Isobel, Michael and him had all gathered in one place. The circle of their friendship had broken on that night in more than the physical sense.

They had come, though, and as Liz explained what she wanted them to do he could see the same reluctance he felt on their faces. “I’ll take Rosa’s place at the center.”

“That’s too dangerous. Whatever happened to Rosa could happen to you.” Michael pointed out.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“We can’t.” Isobel shook her head.

“It may not even work, but we have to at least try.” Liz insisted.

“No.” Michael shook his head, stepping back. Alex stood up and reached out to grab his arm. 

“We ran out once before, and we have spent ten years regretting it.” He stated. Michael stared back at him with wide eyes, and he had to force himself to look away at Isobel. “We can’t run out again. We have to do this.”

“The eclipse is starting.” Maria told them.

“The blindfold.” Liz held her hand out to Maria, who handed her a scarf.

“Liz, what if…” Kyle couldn’t finish.

“I have to do this, Kyle. I have to.” She climbed onto the coffin, and tied the scarf over her eyes.

Alex had released his hold on MIchael’s arm, but to his surprise Michael reached out to take his hand. He glanced over, and felt him squeeze it briefly as they took their positions around the coffin. Isobel stepped into her place, gazing at the two of them, and then up at Liz. With the blindfold covering her eyes, the resemblance to Rosa years before was almost frightening.

“I need you to repeat exactly what you said and did that night.” Liz told them.

Alex gave Michael’s hand one last squeeze before releasing it. He glanced around the chapel, feeling cold despite the summer heat. “I told Rosa-”

“To me. Say it to me. I’m Rosa now.” Liz insisted.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he turned to gaze up at her. “You have been brought here to prove yourself worthy of our secret society. We number only three. We three alone have passed this test of courage. You must not show fear. You must not speak. You must not remove the blindfold, and you must not move at all. We’ll join hands around you, and you must not break the circle - the circle of our friendship.”

“If anything happens to Liz, I”ll break it.” Max spoke up.

“Do not interfere.” Alex told him. “Back away.”

Max hesitated, but stepped sullenly back to where Maria and Kyle stood to one side.

Alex turned back to where Liz stood on the coffin. “Whatever happens you must abide by our code, and banish all thoughts from your mind. Let us join hands, and concentrate.” He reached out his hands, and instantly Michael and Isobel latched onto him, linking their own hands at the same time. As the light changed around them with the solar eclipse, he felt as if time itself were turning backwards. “We are looking upon you, Rosa Ortecho, willing you to be as one with us. We ask the question - is this person worthy?”

“Listen.” A new voice interrupted, and the windows in the back of the chapel shattered. Liz pulled the blindfold off at the noise, and they watched as a wind swirled about the ruins - leaves and branches stirred up in its wake. “Ready to return. I have been trapped on your world. A door was opened. We were transferred by mistake.” Mimi entered the doorway, walking slowly up the main aisle between the pews. Her eyes were blank, and the voice coming from her had grown in strength. No longer trance like, but almost booming in it’s tone.

“Mom?” Maria’s eyes were wide and worried.

“It’s almost time. I must return home.” Mimi intoned.

“Where’s home?” Liz asked.

“Continue. My power comes from you - the three linked as before. When darkness comes at noon.”

“The eclipse.” Liz translated. “But where is Rosa?”

“Rosa was in the way. A mistake. We were transferred by mistake. An error. We exchanged places. Rosa is still in my dimension, trapped and suspended. We must reverse the process. Exchange places again and transfer back. It’s almost time. Concentrate.”

“Go on with the ceremony.” Liz turned to Alex.  
Alex glanced between Mimi and Liz, then reached out again to Michael and Isobel who took his hands instantly. “We’ve joined hands.We call upon the powers of the universe to grant us…”

That was as far as he got, before the look in Isobel’s eyes made him glance over his shoulder. Next to Mimi a form was taking shape. Nothing concrete - a glowing mass of visible light that wavered and morphed.

“Now.” Mimi intoned, and the form moved forward to engulf them.

He felt frozen - he could feel the power flowing through Michael, Isobel and him, as well as through the form that was now around them, but he couldn’t move. Liz let off a scream as the form entered the circle - and her own form began to become transparent.

“Liz you’re in it’s way, get out of there!” Kyle called out.

“I can’t!” She admitted.  
“Break the ring, break it.” Kyle moved forward to try to pry their hands apart, but no amount of tugging seemed able to move their frozen bodies.

Max charged forward to tackle the whole group to the ground, and there was a brilliant flash of light as the energy dispersed.

* * *

Liz groaned as she sat up. “Easy.” Max spoke beside her. He and Kyle each offered a hand, and she took them both - allowing them to bring her back to her feet. Only then was she able to glance around.

Alex, Michael, and Isobel were to one side. Alex and Michael’s hands were still linked. Isobel knelt beside them, one hand on Michael’s shoulder - gazing upward in something like relief and awe.

Slowly she raised her gaze upward to the coffin, and froze. Rosa stood where she’d been standing moments before. Her eyes still covered with a blindfold.

“Maria?” She heard Mimi say. Her tone clear and her own again, and Maria ran to embrace her with a small sob of relief.

“We did it.” Michael looked over at where she was still standing in shock. “We brought her back, Liz.”

Hearing the voices around her, Rosa slowly raised her hands to remove the blindfold. She glanced around until her eyes fell on them. “Liz? Kyle?”

Liz felt tears well in her own eyes. “Welcome home.”

Rosa jumped off the coffin, and when she sister wrapped her arms around her, Liz let the tears fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so technically the week I posted this for All Hallow’s Roswell was a huge spoiler. Because you’re not supposed to know it’s aliens and not ghosts until the very end. XD Also, if this is a bit rougher than normal, I apologize. I did not read through it as often as I usually would a fic before posting.


End file.
